GOOD BONFIRE: Writing on creativity and contemplative practice by artist Hannah Burr

THE AWKWARD

1/18/2022

6 Comments

 
Picture
This is an awkward creative beginning. In a sense all creative beginnings are awkward.
​I want to put in a plug for the awkward - especially as it relates to our relationships. Awkwardness gets a bad rap in our modern culture of the smooth and the glib, but to me it's a refreshing kind of honesty. What is awkward?
  • Children starting kindergarten, not knowing how to interact with each other.
  • When someone begins to cry in front of you, sometimes.
  • When there is a long silence and it's uncomfortable. 
  • A first kiss, when its not in the movies, and when its honest.
  • An apology. 
  • A difficult conversation.
  • Being a tween.
  • Being a middleschooler.
  • Being a teenager.
  • Being a baby and not knowing how to use your body or that you even have one.
  • Being a young adult.
  • Being at all.
  • Being sick. 
  • Being fired.
  • Getting old.
  • Getting examined at the doctor, and the dentist.
  • Talking about money.
  • Setting a boundary.
  • Saying no.
  • Sitting with someone who is grieving.
  • Sitting with someone who is dying.
  • When conversation dies down.
  • When no one laughs at your joke
  • When no one laughs at someone else's joke. 
  • When you don't know what to do.
  • When you forget who you are. 
  • When you remember what you forgot. 
  • When you have to ask for help.
  • Getting to know a new friend, sometimes. 
  • Being in and talking about a conflict of any kind.
  • Not understanding how something works, and having to ask again. 
  • Silences when no one has an answer.

Please share your versions of awkward below. 

Even the word itself is an awkward spelling. What other word has to Ws flanking a K? 

The most awkward moments in my life are the moments when I was being honest. When I didn't look good, but was being true. 

What has been awkward lately in your life? Can you see the humanness in it? What do you love that is awkward? Or what do you not love? 
6 Comments
DTW link
1/20/2022 08:56:46 am

When someone asks you for advice on a hard decision. That falls in both categories (love and really not love)

Reply
Hannah
1/20/2022 11:45:31 am

yess. complicated decisions. awkward. and also asking for and giving advice.

Reply
Tanya link
1/20/2022 09:53:43 am

When you want to get together with someone, but you have to ask if they are vaccinated and to say that you're not comfortable meeting inside unless you're masked, and that you're not willing to do indoor dining at a restaurant at this time. All the Covid conversations are so awkward. And I love the point you made about the word. Awk is an awkward sound.

Reply
Hannah
1/20/2022 11:47:31 am

I concur - covid is awkward and ill fitting to all social norms! just as a working protocol forms everything changes!

awk is like the sound a baby raptors makes...it won't be pretty even where it's a full grown bird!

Reply
Allison
1/20/2022 12:28:33 pm

When you need to draw a boundary with someone from the opposite sex on what began as friendly exchanges in a common interest.

Reply
Hannah Burr
1/21/2022 01:10:22 pm

Very awkward indeed!

Reply



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